I thought of Gabe and the fact that the last few days have been an electrical storm, leaving no doubt that I would chomp on glass or walk on fire to be in his arms.
“Maybe it’s not like that for everybody. Every relationship is different, and you’ll know when the time is right.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “And Dave, it’s okay if it turns out not to be right, too. Just say a prayer, and have faith.”
“See that?” He nudged my arm. “You always help me think things through.”
I fluttered my eyelashes. “I am pretty cool.”
“Damn straight.”
We all stood at the top of the hill outside the back door as I tossed sleds and inner tubes to everyone while Dan carried a cooler toward the top of the hill.
I gave a sharp whistle, and all eyes shot to me. “Alright dudes and broads, it goes like this. You hop on your inner tube, cocktail in hand, and whoever goes the farthest and chugs a drink is the winner.”
“What do we win?”
Of course, it was Fern. I wanted to shout to the sky that she would win me and all the jacked up shit that comes with that. “Well, Fern, the winner gets fifty bucks.”
“Yes!” she threw her arms in the air.
I clapped my hands. “To make it interesting, I put some water on our path earlier that’s now frozen solid. Some good lube for the sledding.”
Andrew pointed at Katie. “The boys will kill you girls!”
Katie rolled her eyes. “If I don’t win, you don’t get sex so maybe you should rethink that.”
Andrew deflated right in front of us as Dave gave him a slap on the back. “Don’t worry. Katie will drink too much, get sloppy, and forget her words.”
She shrugged and admitted, “That does sound a lot like me.”
Suddenly Liv let out a scream when three llamas barreled around the garage. One slowed down and side-kicked Dan who shot a few feet to the right before landing on his ass as they disappeared into the forest next to the cabin.
Ed laughed and helped Dan to his feet. “What the fuck was that?”
Novots pulled on his gloves, “I saw two llamas last night when I had to grab some stuff from my car. What the hell?”
I looked over to see Fern laugh as her eyes found mine. “Who knows? Maybe just some weird shit going on out here.”
“Who’s going first?” Dave shouted at the same time Fern ran full speed and put her tube at the top of the hill. “I guess my sister will make the first run.”
I watched her in the snowmobile suit that was many sizes too big for her, but I could still make out her figure buried beneath. Or maybe it was just the memory of her curves that were branded into my mind. She was an adorable snow angel.
She let out a laugh. “Watch out, motherfuckers, it’s on!”
Okay, maybe her halo was held up by pitchforks.
Dave handed her a beer, she held it high above her head, and he gave her a big push. She ripped down the hill as the group whooped and hollered. At the speed she was going, she reached the bottom of the hill, and whipped out onto the frozen lake. Ed was at the bottom with a can of spray paint to mark her spot on the ice.
She hopped up, slammed her beer, and held the can over her head. I felt a zip in my chest because she was mine. As I gazed at her making her way up the hill, falling over her boots twice, Andrew nudged me.
“Bro, quit staring.”
I quickly sucked in the dorky smile I hadn’t realized I was wearing. I seriously needed to teach my facial expressions how to use their inside voice. “She’s just a really good sledder. Right?”
He examined me before I quickly looked away. “Yeah, she’s something.”
Mental note: keep thoughts and douchebag smiles in check.
After many trips down, we all stood around the raging bon fire at the bottom of the hill when Dave handed out cigars and bottles of beer. I decided to stick to water after last night just to shock the shit out of my liver.
